Raleigh Public Record

Author Archives: Charles C. Duncan Pardo

UDO Day 19: Legalizing community gardens

Up until a month ago, community gardens as most people think of them — taking up a vacant lot — were not allowed under the zoning code. The city council approved a new set of rules April 5 to allow gardens as a primary use of a property, and those new rules are now part of the draft Unified Development Ordinance.
May 5, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , , , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 18: Regulatin’

The Use Regulations chapter really spells out district by district, use by use, what can go where. This is where we really dig into the nitty-gritty of the new zoning code. Tomorrow we will dig into some of the specifics about the changes proposed for use regulations, but first, let’s get an overview.
May 4, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 17: Overlay, Ole!

Overlay districts are nothing new in Raleigh. Chapter 5 of the new Unified Development Ordinance more or less takes the same overlays districts from the old code and puts them in one place. An overlay essentially makes it easier for the city to take an expanded set of rules and place them on one district, for example around an airport or a highway, or to preserve the historic character of a neighborhood.
May 2, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , | Comments closed | Full Story »

Mayor will not run again

Longtime Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker will not run for re-election this fall. Meeker made the announcement at a Tuesday morning press conference, creating an open field for this fall’s election.
April 26, 2011 | Posted in: News | Tags: , | Comments closed | Full Story »

Mapping Raleigh Tornado Damage

Estimates from the city put the cost of the damage done by the April 16 tornado at just more than $115 million. More than 2,500 homes and businesses were damaged when the EF3 tornado swept through Raleigh. See a property-by-property map of the damage.
April 22, 2011 | Posted in: Data, News | Tags: , , , | Comments closed | Full Story »

Raleigh Could Get Agreement on Moore Square Plan

The Raleigh City Council may be able to strike a deal with the state to move ahead with the Moore Square redesign. Councilors also approved parking changes, two bonds for the October ballot and ended sidewalk assessments.
April 20, 2011 | Posted in: City Council, News | Tags: , , , , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 10: What’s missing and learning more

The last two days we paused in our cover-to-cover read of the new Unified Development Ordinance to jump ahead and look at the changing duties for city staff. There’s one more question we should answer before we get back to reading through the UDO: What’s missing?
April 18, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , , , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 9: Reducing the political role

Thursday we began a conversation with Greg Hallam from the Planning Department about what is changing in the approval process for site plans, special use permits, rezonings and all that other fun stuff that goes through the planning department and city boards for an official yes or no. In a nut shell, the new zoning code aims to “take the politics out of it,” Hallam said.
April 15, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 8: Who decides what?

Before we dig any deeper into the draft of the new zoning code, we should probably skip ahead to Chapter 11 and figure out which boards and bodies will be responsible for what kinds of things.
April 14, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , | Comments closed | Full Story »

UDO Day 7: More on infill and correcting an error

One of the questions we were unable to answer Tuesday was how the new infill projects would be approved. We found some answers from the Planning Department’s Christine Darges.
April 13, 2011 | Posted in: Getting to know your UDO | Tags: , | Comments closed | Full Story »